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The webhosting of this site is generously sponsored by the Guernsey Society

W

elcome to theislandwiki, a gateway to two historical websites featuring the Channel Islands, a group of small islands in the English Channel, close to the French coast, which are possessions of the British Crown and part of the British Isles. Originally part of the Guernsey Society website, theislandwiki still benefits from the generous sponsorship of its web hosting expenses by the Society.

History

The websites are the historical encyclopaedias devoted to the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, Donkipedia and Jerripedia, which have been established since 2010 and have since built up a substantial worldwide audience, interested in the histories of the Channel Islands and their families. These websites contain the largest online repository of information about the islands, with hundreds of family trees, thousands of family records and an illustrated general history of the islands.

We also have links below to four Facebook groups which will be of value to those researching their family history in Jersey and Guernsey, and to those interested in old photographs of Jersey.

Donkipedia, launched in February 2010, is the largest and most comprehensive on-line resource for those seeking information about their family history and the island their ancestors lived in.

The website specialises in the history of Guernsey families, the lives of famous Guernseymen, the literature of the island and many other aspects of island life, and contains a growing collecting of historic images.

Donkipedia is growing steadily and contains a large number of trees of important Guernsey families.

Jerripedia is now on Facebook. A new group has been created - just search for Jerripedia from your Facebook account, which anybody interested in the history of Jersey and its families is welcome to join. The group will provide regular updates about additions to Jerripedia's content, as well as providing a forum for discussion about all matters relating the island's history. It will also cover Guernsey, although initially to a more limited extent, until we build up a team of people specialising in that island's history.

There are other Facebook groups of value to those interested in the history of the Channel Islands. Those we recommend are:

Jerripedia, launched in February 2010 within days of Donkipedia, is the one-stop-shop for anyone researching their ancestors in Jersey. It also provides a comprehensive picture of the island from pre-historic days to the German Occupation of the mid-20th century and right up to today.

With an unrivalled collection of historic photographs and works of art, Jerripedia shows exactly what Jersey looked like over the centuries, and particularly during the last 150 years.

It contains over 1,100 pages dedicated to island families, Nearly 3,000 family trees, and over 750,000 baptism and other family records.

Family records

Jerripedia now contains an index of records of Jersey baptisms, marriages and burials in the 12 parish churches from the earliest registers in the 16th century to 1940 - latest dates for records vary by type and parish.

This is the Only free site in which Jersey church records are available. Jerripedia is committed to adding to this service in the future and continuing to provide the best reference source for family historians researching their ancestry in the island.

Alongside this work we are linked to a fully searchable database of all records so that searches for names can be made across all parishes, as well as in individual parishes, and across baptism, marriage and burial records at the same time.